Website Detail Page

supported by
the National Science Foundation
written by
John Belcher
designer:
Michael Danziger

This animation depicts a positively-charged particle repelled by the positively-charged sphere of a van de Graaff generator, a device that mechanically separates charge. The animation was designed to help students see that the Coulomb force is transmitted in a continuous manner (as observed between the van de Graaff sphere and the smaller particle). Although the two charges are not in direct contact with one another, they are in direct contact with a medium existing between them. The item may be viewed as a video or in stepped motion.

This item is part of a larger collection of visualizations developed by the MIT TEAL/Studio Physics Project to support an introductory course in electricity and magnetism.

Units (1)

This resource is part of a Physics Front Topical Unit.

Topic: "Static" ElectricityUnit Title: Electric Charge

This Quicktime video accompanies the item directly above. In this model, a positively-charged particle is shown being repelled by the positively-charged sphere of the van de Graaff generator. Both videos promote understanding of the Coulomb force by showing the electric field existing between the charges.

Disclaimer: ComPADRE offers citation styles as a guide only. We cannot offer interpretations about citations as this is an automated procedure. Please refer to the style manuals in the Citation Source Information area for clarifications.